Stellwagen Bank Final EIS and Management Plan 



Page 72 



NMFS has identified, in the NMFS Strategic 

 Plan, aquaculture as one of ten agency-wide 

 priorities. However, the NMFS Northeast Regional 

 Office does not anticipate embarking on any new 

 policy initiatives or major projects related to 

 aquaculture (C. Mantzaris, NMFS, pers. comm., 

 August 1991). NMFS has nonetheless issued joint 

 State/Federal guidelines (prepared by NMFS, the 

 Army Corps of Engineers, the Environmental 

 Protection Agency, and the State of Maine) for net 

 pen finfish aquaculture projects. In this joint 

 guidance, finfish leases are prohibited in, or within 

 1/4 mile of, any area "named in acts of Congress or 

 Presidential proclamations such as national parks, 

 national wilderness eu"eas, national recreation areas, 

 national lakeshores, national natural landmarks, 

 national wildlife refuges, and such areas as may be 

 established under federal law for similar and related 

 purposes." Similar guidance has been developed by 

 the New England Division of the COE, for 

 information required in applying for floating fish 

 pen project permits. 



Mantzaris (1990) identifies five key factors 

 related to siting issues and environmental impacts 

 associated with finfish pen culture: 1) distance 

 between the bottom of the net and the sea floor - 

 minimum has been 30 feet, but recently reduced to 

 10 feet; 2) currents - should be sufficient to insure 

 the dispersal of organic matter generated by the 

 operation; 3) tidal range - as with factor #1, this 

 factor is a consideration only with the siting of 

 inshore operations; 4) location with respect to rare, 

 threatened, endangered, or otherwise protected 

 species (particularly seal nursing sites); and 5) 

 commercial and recreational conflicts - operations 

 should not be located or interfere with significant 

 commercial fishing or recreational areas. 



Wildish (1990) generally identified five basic 

 ecological issues of interest concerning aquaculture: 

 1) organic site-specific pollution or waste-related 

 pollution; 2) eutrophication or nutrient enrichment; 

 3) interaction of aquaculture with traditional 

 fisheries; 4) toxic chemicals in cultured products 

 (antibiotics, pesticides, hormones, antifoulants); and 

 5) disease transmission (principally to native fish 

 stocks). With the exception of confUcts with 

 traditional fisheries and other human activities, the 

 remainder of the issues are generally not 



problematic with offshore operations. 



While no mariculture facihty is currently 

 operating in the offshore waters of New England, 

 in 1987 a proposed was developed by American 

 Norwegian Fish Farm, Inc. (based in Gloucester, 

 Massachusetts) to estabUsh a floating mariculture 

 facihty offshore of Cape Ann, for commercial 

 production of salmon. Apphcation was made to the 

 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to obtain a permit 

 under Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act, for 

 construction, installation, and maintenance of two 

 facilities, one inshore for raising juvenile salmon 

 (smolts), and a second offshore site for raising the 

 smolts to market size. 



The original apphcation proposed an inshore 

 facihty to be moored to the seabed adjacent to the 

 southwest side of the Federal breakwater in Sandy 

 Bay, approximately 1-1/2 miles offshore of 

 Rockport, Massachusetts. At this site, smolts were 

 to be raised between April and October annually, to 

 5" in size, and then transferred to the offshore site, 

 for growth to market size. The offshore site would 

 encompass a 7-nautical-mile by 7-nautical-mile area, 

 situated 27 miles east of Cape Ann. 



In addition to the requirements of § 10 of the 

 Rivers and Harbors Act, the appUcant was required 

 to comply with § 402 of the Clean Water Act 

 (requiring a National Pollution Discharge 

 EUmination System, or NPDES, permit), 

 administered by the Environmental Protection 

 Agency (EPA). 



Following pubUc hearings and consultation with 

 Federal and state agencies on the structural, 

 environmental, and economic feasibihty of this 

 proposal, the apphcant withdrew entirely plans for 

 the inshore facihty and combined the proposed 

 operation to a single site, located approximately 37 

 miles (59.5 km) offshore of Cape Ann. This 

 location occurs slightly northeast of Sanctuary 

 boundary alternative #3. 



The modified configuration of the offshore 

 facihty would consist of nine anchored strings of 10 

 fish pens each, for a total of 90 pens. The conical- 

 shaped pens would each measure 90' from top to 

 bottom, and 90' in diameter at the top. At 



